


The good ones do

by taizi



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Gen, natsume protection squad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-03-07
Packaged: 2018-09-30 15:41:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10166207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taizi/pseuds/taizi
Summary: Nishimura remembers a lunch period they spent on the roof, and stealing food out of Natsume’s lovingly cooked bento. Remembers telling Natsume “I’d be totally messed up if I were you,” and having no idea at the time of howrighthe was about that.





	

They’re leaving the karaoke bar as a group, headed further into the city instead of back towards the station, because Nishimura has his _heart_ set on oden, and there’s a stall just a few blocks away that was put there by either an angel or a god or a mortal saint, even – _totally_ worth the trip, they _had_ to trust him on this one. His friends roll their eyes and share commiserating looks, but Natsume is smiling indulgently at him, and Tanuma and Taki would follow Natsume off the edge of the planet if he expressed a mild interest in going that way, and that gives Nishimura the majority vote right off the bat.

He smirks victoriously at Kitamoto the rest of the way there, and only almost trips twice.

The stall is set up along the riverside railing in a relatively quiet area, and the smell hits them even before the lights come into view through the thin crowd. “Oh, you were right,” Taki says, her bright grin doing something complicated and fizzy to Nishimura’s heart. “It smells _amazing._ ”

A man ducks the curtain, stepping out of the stall – his steps are a little wobbly, and he smells strongly of alcohol. Nishimura wrinkles his nose and moves around him, hearing his friends follow suit, and smiles at the familiar old man behind the counter.

He opens his mouth around a greeting, but Tanuma says “Natsume?” behind him in a way that makes the world stop.

Their quiet friend is fallen behind, several paces up the sidewalk and talking to the drunken man who had passed by them. Only it’s wrong, right away – the whole scene is wrong, the ashen pallor of Natsume’s face, and the frozen, frightened way he’s standing, like a rabbit sighted by a hungry fox. His arms are curled in front of him, and without his cat, it looks more like he’s hugging pieces of himself together than it rightly should.

Tanuma is already headed towards him. Taki is barely a step behind. They’re moving with such furious intent that it’s obvious they’ve got a better idea what’s going on – Kitamoto is frowning, dark eyes narrowed as he tries to put it together, but Nishimura isn’t that worried about the whos and the whys. He hurries after the other two, heart in his throat.

Natsume shouldn’t look like that, not ever.

“ – little _monster,_ ” the man is snarling darkly, weaving on his feet. His words slur, but only barely. “You nearly cost me _everything._ There was an investigation after they took you away, and I almost lost _my_ kid because of _you._ ”

Taki breaks into a run at that point, and all but slams into Natsume’s side. She tucks her arm into his, hugging close to him, and stares resolutely at the man as though she’s stared down monsters five times his size before. Tanuma is taller than him by an inch or two, and squares broad shoulders as he steps neatly into the middle of the confrontation.

“I think you should leave,” he says, on the frigid side of too polite. “Or I’ll ask my friends to call the police.”

Nishimura feels Kitamoto beside him, a calm and steadfast presence that has always been beside him. He promptly holds his cellphone up when the man looks their way. “In a heartbeat, man.”

The man’s eyes burn with something uncomfortably close to hatred as they cut back to Natsume for a split second; but Taki meets him glare for glare and Tanuma shifts just so, blocking his line of sight, and adds unkindly, “Now.”

The man takes his advice and turns on his heel, leaving with one last, ugly look over his shoulder. Nishimura forgets about him the moment he’s gone, rushing instead to close the distance left between him and his very pale, very quiet friend.

“I’m so sorry,” Natsume says right away, covering his face in one hand. Hiding away the parts of himself he thinks they wouldn’t want to see. Nishimura knows what he’s doing and _hates_ it.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Nishimura says, shrugging one shoulder; even if it’s the farthest thing from the truth. Even if it makes Taki and Tanuma and Kitamoto look at him like he’s crazy. Natsume can’t talk about it – he _can’t._ And so Nishimura will make sure he doesn’t have to, making light of the situation in the space where a serious conversation should be. “Who _doesn’t_ have a crappy relative or two in their lives, right?”

He remembers a lunch period they spent on the roof, and stealing food out of Natsume’s lovingly cooked bento. Remembers telling Natsume “I’d be totally messed up if I were you,” and having no idea at the time of how _right_ he was.

And when Natsume dares lift his head and meet Nishimura’s eyes, Nishimura adopts a smile that he hopes doesn’t look as dishonest as it feels. “The good ones _more_ than make up for the bad ones, though,” he adds – praying, _praying_ that Natsume will stop thinking of that man and start thinking of the foster parents waiting for him at home, who pack him lunches and make time to walk him home from school. Watching, waiting for that light to come back to Natsume's eyes. He’s not budging an inch until it does.

Taki beams at him from where her head is pillowed on Natsume’s shoulder, and Tanuma’s dark eyes are unfailingly gentle. Those two catch on so fast, they always do, and Kitamoto bumps Nishimura's shoulder fondly – and then, finally, impossibly, Natsume smiles.

“Yeah,” he says, very soft. “The good ones do.”


End file.
